DoD Tries to Make Military Spouse Hiring Slightly Less Painful
Published Date: 7/21/2026
Notice
Summary
The Department of Defense wants to update how military spouse employers sign up and report hiring through the Military Spouse Employment Partnership portal. This change affects businesses partnering to hire military spouses and aims to make the process smoother without adding much extra work. Comments on these updates are open until August 20, 2026, and the whole effort saves about 373 hours of paperwork yearly.
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.
MSEP links military spouses to employers
MSEP is a targeted recruitment partnership that connects vetted American businesses with military spouses who are seeking portable careers. Participating companies pledge to recruit, hire, promote, and retain military spouses, and the portal lets partners report spouse hires and access spouse employment data.
Employers must register and report
If your company wants to be an MSEP Partner, you must complete online forms: New Partner Application (150 respondents, 10 minutes each), Become a Partner Application (150 respondents, 15 minutes each), New Partner User Registration (300 respondents, 10 minutes each), and Monthly Reporting (650 respondents, 2 minutes per month). The notice lists 1,250 total respondents, 8,400 annual responses, and 373 annual burden hours; registration is required to obtain MSEP benefits.
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